Monday, December 31, 2012

I'm pretty psyched to have a 2-page spread in December's issue of Powder Magazine. The photo was taken at Stevens Pass Washington by Garrett Grove.

Last season I met up with Garrett and spent about a week in Leavenworth, Washington shredding Stevens Pass. We couldn't have had better timing, as it proceeded to dump a foot or two of snow nearly every day. It's really tricky to shoot good photos in a heavy snow storm with minimal light, but Garrett has had a lot of practice living in the Pacific North West

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Time for Throwback Thursday! Here's some shots I got with Jake Lawlor a few years back. I've always liked these photos but never posted them. Click on them to enlarge.

This was from a night shoot we did in Big Cottonwood Canyon. After a full day of skiing powder, Lawlor talked me and Tony Pavlantos into hauling a generator and running extension chords across a creek to get this shot. It was a lot of effort, but definitely worth it.

Late season booters at Brighton are always fun.

First hit at sunrise. Brighton.

This is the funniest picture I've ever got. Jumping through trees and having a camera flash blind you is very startling

Jumping through a mini double cliff. Are those stars or snow flakes in the air?

Monday, October 15, 2012

Last Winter I was lucky enough to spend some quality time in the Pacific Northwest. While the rest of the continental U.S. was hurting for snow, it seemed that Washington was getting puked on for most of the season.

Deep / Garrett Grove Photo

Deeper / Garrett Grove Photo

I met up with Garrett Grove and Sakeus Bankson up in Revelstoke and headed down to Bellingham to ski one glorious day at Mt. Baker. After that, we headed to the town of Levenworth and linked up with a top notch crew of ski bums including Drew Stoecklein, Pat Haggerty, Matt Bowen, and many others. We timed our trip perfectly, getting hit with 1-2 feet of snow per day. After being deprived of deep days for so much of the season, getting over-head face shots was truly a spiritual experience.

Ferry / Garrett Grove Photo

Submersion / Garrett Grove Photo

Garrett was nice enough to let me post some B-roll photos from the trip. These were without a doubt the deepest days of my season. I can't wait to get back up there for more epic days and jalepeño margaritas!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Well it's been far too long since I've updated this thing, but it's starting to get cold and skiing has been on my mind a lot. I'll be updating this blog a lot more in the coming weeks as we get closer to the season.

Last year, the lower 48 states had a rough snow year to say the least. The Wasatch mountains, like many in the West, developed a persistent weak layer at the bottom of the snowpack that plagued the mountains with dangerous avalanche conditions for most of the year. We also experienced some of lowest snowfall on record.

On top of all that, I took a hard crash in December and sustained a bone contusion in my knee that followed me around for most of the season. After resting and doing physical therapy for six weeks, I was feeling good and joined some friends for the Surface Canada Tour. We hit lots of good spots in B.C. like Whistler, Red Mountain, Revelstoke, and Whitewater. We ran ski demos on the weekends, and got to explore and ski during the week. We ended up staying with our friends at Sweetgrass Productions and got to film with them as well. The snow up north was awesome, and skiing it felt much better on my knee than skiing ice in Utah.

Sunrise to sunset with Eliel Hindert and Nick Mcnutt - one of the longest, best days of the year - Photos: Eric Balken

After spending a month playing in British Columbia, I linked up with photographer Garrett Grove and headed to Washington to ski a storm that was supposed to pound the Pacific Northwest. The storm delivered and we ended up skiing some of the deepest powder of the year at Baker and Stevens Pass. I'll be posting another update for that trip later.

When I finally came back to Utah in March, that same storm in Washington had made its way to the Wasatch and dropped some snow. We had a few good storm cycles and the avalanche danger had tapered off significantly. Conditions were finally good in the home country. My friends and I enjoyed the last month of the season in Utah skiing powder at Alta and Brighton.

Better late than never! Sunrise in the Wasatch - Photo: Eric Balken

Good morning Alta! - Photo: Eric Balken

LCC - Photo: Eric Balken

After a season of such terrible snowpack and numerous avalanche deaths, I was extremely grateful to ski some good snow. In the words of the Rollings Stones - you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need.

This is a little video I put together from some of the more powder-rich portions of my season. Nothing too epic, just lots of fun times. Enjoy! Grateful Shred from Eric Balken on Vimeo.

Monday, January 16, 2012

The 2011-2012 season has been one of thinnest I've ever seen. All across the inter mountain West, from Tahoe to Colorado, there has been minimal snowfall. To escape the grim state of things in Utah, I made a quick trip to Whistler with fellow Surface guys Eliel Hindert and Jordan Seldin. The trip was brief and I ended up tweaking my knee pretty hard a few days in, but it was worth it - it always is.

Nice to see some snow again. Photo: Andrew Strain.

We toured around and ended up finding some really good snow in the back country. The avalanche danger was high, so we kept it to fairly mellow terrain. Check out these pretty photos courtesy of Whistler photo wizard Andrew Strain.